Teri Garr obituary

Teri Garr, the American actress who passed away at the age of 79, famously remarked, “I’ve spent a lot of time clawing my way to the middle.” This comment could easily have been spoken by any of the vibrant, eccentric, and openly anxious characters she portrayed starting in the mid-1970s.

In Mel Brooks's comedic horror film Young Frankenstein (1974), she portrayed Inga, the cheerful lab assistant who, when she suggests a bit of fun, is being completely straightforward about it. In 1977, she also took on the role of wives to two very different characters dealing with their own troubles in fantasy films.

In Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, she works hard to keep her kids in good spirits while their father, played by Richard Dreyfuss, becomes increasingly obsessed with UFOs and starts losing his grip on reality. In the comedy Oh, God!, where her husband, portrayed by John Denver, has a humorous encounter with God, played by George Burns, she emotionally recounts, "I went to take out the trash and two people blessed me. Then one of them even blessed the trash!" In both films, she brings a lot of warmth, humor, and kindness to her supportive, stay-at-home roles.

Younger viewers may recognize Garr from her role as Phoebe Buffay's mother, played by Lisa Kudrow, in the beloved 1990s sitcom Friends. However, her most significant achievement came from her role in Tootsie (1982), where Dustin Hoffman portrayed a cross-dressing actor. Garr played Sandy, his occasional love interest who is eagerly awaiting her big break in acting. She delivered a heartfelt performance, often improvising some of her funniest scenes, such as a moment when she found herself locked in the bathroom, deciding to draw inspiration from it for her acting. Garr cleverly highlighted how even the smallest criticism could drastically affect Sandy's confidence. Most impressively, she infused dignity into a character that could easily have been seen as a push-over. While Garr received an Oscar nomination for her role, she ultimately lost the award to Jessica Lange, who performed in the same film.

The production faced numerous challenges, cycling through various writers and potential directors to the point where there were whispers of a group in Hollywood called “I Also Wrote/ I Almost Directed Tootsie.” Throughout the lengthy 100-day filming process, Hoffman and the final director, Sydney Pollack, often found themselves in conflict or only communicating via others.

Garr felt drained by Hoffman. “It’s not enough to just go along with him,” she remarked. “You also need to genuinely appreciate what he desires!” These behind-the-scenes challenges only made the impressive final product seem even more extraordinary. As the film reached its frantic conclusion, Garr truly shone with her impeccable timing and overwhelmed sense of outrage.

She originated from Lakewood, Ohio, in a family deeply entrenched in the entertainment industry. Her mother, Phyllis Lind—originally named Emma Schmotzer—was a dancer with the Rockettes, and her father, Eddie Garr, born Edward Gonnoud, was a vaudeville artist and actor who appeared with a young Marilyn Monroe in the film "Ladies of the Chorus" in 1948. Following her father's passing when she was just 11, the family relocated from New Jersey to Hollywood, where her mother took on the role of a wardrobe mistress for movies and television.

Garr dreamed of becoming an actor and dancer from a young age. At just 13, she had the opportunity to dance with a professional ballet company in San Francisco. She attended Magnificat High School in Ohio, North Hollywood High School, and later California State University at Northridge. After her studies, she took the stage in the road show of West Side Story and participated in Donald O’Connor’s revue at the Cocoanut Grove club.

Garr's first roles in films were as a background dancer in several Elvis Presley movies. She appeared in nine of them, including Fun in Acapulco (1963), Kissin’ Cousins, Viva Las Vegas (both released in 1964), and Clambake (1967). As she started taking acting classes, she found herself in the same group as Jack Nicholson, who was working on the unconventional film Head (1968) as a project for the Monkees. He offered small roles to his classmates, and Garr received her first speaking part as a woman who gets bitten by a snake. She urgently tells Micky Dolenz, while holding out her injured finger, “Quick, suck it before the venom reaches my heart.”

In the early to mid-1970s, she frequently appeared on The Sonny & Cher Show, where she drew inspiration for Inga's accent in Young Frankenstein from Cher’s German wig stylist. She also made guest appearances on popular sitcoms like The Bob Newhart Show and M*A*S*H.

Francis Ford Coppola cast her in a minor part in his suspense film The Conversation (1974). She also appeared in the ensemble of two quirky American comedies directed by British filmmakers: Michael Winner’s star-filled Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and John Schlesinger’s Honky Tonk Freeway (1981).

Following her role as the young hero's mother in the poetic adventure The Black Stallion (1979), produced by Coppola, Garr joined the Zoetrope Repertory Company, taking part in various other films that Coppola produced or directed.

"I preferred receiving a weekly paycheck or a smaller sum instead of a large upfront payment for a film, as we had agreed to split the profits later on. However, after some time, even the small payments dried up." She appeared in Zoetrope productions such as The Escape Artist and the visually unique but financially unsuccessful musical, One from the Heart, both released in 1982. Regarding the latter, Garr commented, "We practiced it too much. By the time we'd finished a scene 25 times, we were out of energy and lost interest."

She played a prominent role in The Sting II, which was a disappointing follow-up to the 1973 comedy about con artists. She made a short return to her character in The Black Stallion Returns and portrayed the spouse of a stay-at-home dad (Michael Keaton) in Mr. Mom, both released in 1983.

In a unique shift to serious roles, she portrayed a divorced woman involved with a deceptive man in Michael Apted's film Firstborn (1984). In Martin Scorsese's dark comedy After Hours (1985), she delivered a hilariously wicked performance as a waitress obsessed with the Monkees, sporting a beehive hairstyle and a pantry full of hairspray cans—a detail that Garr came up with herself.

In the film Miracles (1986), she starred alongside Tom Conti as a couple who reconsider their relationship while being held captive just before their divorce. Other notable performances included the heartfelt drama Full Moon in Blue Water (1988) and the comedic caper Out Cold (1989). She also had supporting roles in the comedy Dumb and Dumber (1994), the Watergate-themed film Dick (1999), and Terry Zwigoff’s clever adaptation of the comic Ghost World (2001).

In 2002, Garr revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. A few years later, she released her autobiography, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, which she initially intended to call Does This Wheelchair Make Me Look Fat? In 2006, she experienced a brain aneurysm that affected her ability to speak and move, but after several months of rehabilitation, she made a full recovery. Her final film roles were in two popular indie comedy-dramas, Expired and Kabluey, both released in 2007, prior to her aneurysm.

When she shared her frustration about the roles presented to her, it was often difficult to determine if she was jokingly downplaying herself. “Directors would say to me, ‘We’d like you to portray a character that’s simpler than you are.’ Of course, what they really mean is, ‘You’re going to play a fool.’” However, no role that Garr took on could be easily categorized. Her unique skill was in adding a vibrant, humorous depth that surpassed what was written in the script.

She is survived by her daughter, Molly, whom she had during her three-year marriage to actor John O'Neil, which ended in divorce in 1996.